Mystic River Watershed Report Cards

EPA has been assigning a report card grade for the Mystic River Watershed since calendar year 2006.

When assessing water quality to assign a grade to the Mystic River Watershed, EPA uses an average between the overall percentages that water quality met the state criteria for swimming and boating (for 2013, it is 66%) as well as qualitative criteria that are similar to those developed for the Charles River Initiative, as follows:

A - met swimming and boating standards nearly all of the time
B - met swimming and boating standards most of the time
C - met swimming standards some of the time, and boating standards most of the time
D - met swimming and boating standards some of the time
F - fail swimming and boating standards most of the time

For 2013 EPA produced a watershed map (PDF)(1 pg, 943 K. about PDF) that identifies areas in the watershed where water quality is generally good and generally needs improvement.

Year

Grade

Overall*

Dry*

Wet*

Boating

Swimming

Boating

Swimming

Boating

Swimming

2013

D

83%

49%

88%

51%

67%

42%

2012

D

75%

47%

84%

58%

45%

14%

2011

D

87%

46%

93%

54%

69%

25%

2010

D-

70%

28%

72%

26%

63%

33%

2009

C-

93%

57%

93%

51%

90%

75%

2008

C-

90%

59%

93%

64%

81%

43%

2007

D

68%

46%

63%

45%

83%

50%

2006

D

80%

52%

93%

59%

41%

30%

2005**

85%

56%

90%

64%

69%

31%

2004**

79%

52%

85%

59%

61%

59%

2003**

81%

55%

81%

53%

81%

62%

*Figures represent the percentage of time that state bacterial standards are met.
**The Mystic River Watershed did not receive formal grades for the years 2003 – 2005.